Author: NBTC

$ZEC’s Price Run Drags More Machines Back Online $ZEC’s price traded around $820 to $871 between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25, while estimates put Zcash’s network hashrate in the mid-20s of gigasolutions per second, or GSol/s. Several trackers recently printed readings near 27 to 29 GSol/s, putting network activity around its highest levels on record. The economics explain exactly what is happening. When coin revenue outruns electricity and hosting costs, machines sitting dark suddenly become productive assets again. Operators switch on idle equipment, pack additional units into existing halls, or hunt for more machines until climbing difficulty starts eating the…

Boltz, the non-custodial bridge that routes swaps between bitcoin’s mainchain, the Lightning Network and Liquid, disabled its service indefinitely on Monday, saying months of automated, AI-assisted attacks on its infrastructure have outpaced its ability to ship fixes. Boltz first took its swap services offline at 5:54 am ET on Aug. 3 without explanation. In a follow-up statement about six hours later, the team said the suspension will last “until further notice” and described a months-long pattern of intrusions. “Over the past months we have seen a steady rise in automated, AI-assisted probing of our infrastructure, and we have dealt with…

Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) by trading volume, recorded 28.9 million swaps last week, the highest weekly total in its history, according to data from Unfolded. The milestone underscores a broader surge in on-chain trading activity and growing user adoption of automated market makers (AMMs). What the Record Means for Uniswap and DeFi The previous weekly record was set in late 2024, but last week’s volume marks a significant acceleration. The increase comes amid heightened volatility in the crypto market, with major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum experiencing sharp price swings. Uniswap’s role as a primary liquidity venue for…

Datavault AI has agreed to acquire BankWyse, a Wyoming banking institution, while promising funding substantially larger than the cash it reported at the end of June. The mismatch leaves a central question for the proposed deal: How can Datavault finance the purchase and capitalize the bank without another layer of debt or dilution? The agreement disclosed on Aug. 19 values the initial consideration at approximately $22 million, comprising $14.66 million in Datavault stock and $7.34 million in cash. BankWyse’s sellers could receive up to another $10 million if they meet milestones, split evenly between cash and stock. Separate from the…

Two former Wall Street investment bankers were charged with fraud by the SEC on Friday following their stock trades in South Jersey Industries prior to the company’s February 24, 2022 takeover announcement. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Satsky, aged 59, was one of the heads of an energy and utility banking unit at the New York bank, while working on South Jersey’s business and being a lead banker for that deal. Mr. Wolfe, his 55-year-old friend and former colleague, was alleged to have traded about 2.2 million shares, making a profit of $18.5 million when the stock rose about 40%…

Sportsbook operators are trying to defend their core business by adopting the very market structure that is challenging it.Prediction markets have grown large enough that sportsbook operators now treat them as a strategic problem rather than a regulatory nuisance. Kalshi’s valuation has reportedly climbed to $22 billion after a $1 billion financing round, while Polymarket closed a round at roughly $15 billion and is reportedly discussing a valuation above $20 billion. Sportsbooks respond by entering that same exchange-style market and use prediction markets to expand distribution and protect customer relationships. What Prediction Markets Remove from Bookmaking Traditional sportsbooks do more…

Bitdeer Sends Its Own Mining Fleet Into Soluna’s Texas Wind Farm Under the deal announced Aug. 25, Bitdeer subsidiary Dory Creek will install company-owned Sealminer A2 Pro Air machines at Soluna’s Project Kati 1 in Willacy County. Deployment starts in September and ramps up in batches, putting the hardware inside the facility’s K1BC phase. Project Kati 1 is an 83 MW wind-powered data center that booked its first gross profit during the second quarter of 2026. The publicly traded firm Soluna currently runs 192 MW of data center capacity across Texas and Kentucky, with another 14 MW under construction at…

Hashdex said it will liquidate its eponymous spot-price Bitcoin exchange-traded fund this month, distributing the cash to all remaining shareholders and selling the fund’s roughly 225 $BTC holdings. In a filing on Monday, the fund issuer said the decision was made after evaluating factors including trading liquidity, operating costs and investor interest. The 200,000 shares, which have traded on NYSE ARCA under the DEFI ticker since March 2024, have net assets of $14.25 million, according to the fund’s website. Late to the game, which saw the first of 10 other competing $BTC ETFs debut months ahead of it, analysts saw…

Draper University partnered with Cardano and Orion Fund to launch the Apex acceleration program in Silicon Valley. Selected startups will receive up to $70,000 in funding in exchange for a 3.5% equity stake. The application window closes on September 1, 2026, and on-site activities begin on October 5, 2026. This Tuesday, it was announced that Tim Draper backed a Cardano accelerator through Draper University. The initiative aims to drive the development of startups focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 infrastructure ready for institutional capital. Big opportunity for founders in the Cardano ecosystem. DraperU teamed up with @Cardano and @OrionFund…

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said on Aug. 21 that countries could use tokenization to raise capital and attract foreign direct investment by offering digital representations of assets to global investors. “Let’s tokenize everything,” CZ wrote in an X post. He argued that countries and companies have an incentive to sell tokenized shares to investors worldwide. CZ also backed issuing tokenized assets across every blockchain rather than selecting a single network. He acknowledged that this approach would create fragmented liquidity but said parallel development would be the fastest way to expand the sector. His comments represented a policy and industry view,…